As the character of Big Daddy in Tennessee Williams's play "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" says, "When you've got pain, it's better to judge yourself, a lot of things".

When the animal spirits are roaring even a shoe-shine boy can make a million. So is the case with companies. All and sundry become investor darlings in a booming economy, but it is only when the tide turns that one finds out who has been swimming naked. The tide did turn and many have fallen by the way side in the last four years. But some are standing tall, and they will continue to do so for years to come. Not because they are monopolies in their respective markets, but because their values, business models, and management philosophies are such that they could weather the storm.

Resisting the temptation to keep up with the Joneses and being parsimonious helped them survive the economic debacle. ET spotlights a select dozen whose performance under pressure marks them out as a cut above the rest.

Indeed, the slowdown was an opportunity for them to weed out unwanted businesses and correct the mistakes of the past.

Fiscal 2012 was a difficult year for Indian corporates. Slowing economic growth, faltering industrial demand due to lower capital expenditure, a weak rupee offsetting the benefit of falling global prices of commodities, sliding export growth, and high interest rates weighed on growth and profitability of companies.

Recent policy decisions have come as a ray of hope, but they are just rays on the horizon. Till such time as they translate into actual benefits on the ground, companies will have to continue to battle headwinds. The winners are those who are able to surmount these challenges.

The 2012 edition of ET 500 ranking showcases corporates that withstood the pressures of a post-subprime era when global markets seized. Some of the companies we have identified focused on their core strengths by restructuring business lines and exiting non-core activities; others sought newer markets. There were no exceptions to slower revenue growth or the squeeze on profitability, but these companies remained financially sound and agile enough to rebound when the economy recovered.

THE FLAG BEARERS

To identify these companies we analysed their performance over the last four years when the business environment was a testing one. Growth has faltered since 2008, at home and overseas. The current state of the global economy is not much different. In fact, it may turn worse if the Euro zone crisis blows up and if the US falls off the fiscal cliff. In the US, which saw some revival in relative terms, several economic parameters are nowhere near pre-sub prime levels. Though the number of jobless has come off historic highs, US firms have cut more jobs in 2012 than the year before.

If the global economy slips back into recession and India struggles to shake off its policy paralysis, there are only a few companies that could survive the double trouble.

We chose 12 companies which could sail the rough seas. They have not only survived the last slowdown, but are also in the pink of health to sustain long-term growth.

An economic downturn makes it difficult to assess a company's financials over a number of years since it tends to skew the findings during the period of hardships. This was a major challenge while evaluating the performance in terms of growth in revenues, profits, cash flows and other financial parameters of ET 500 companies since 2008 - the year the world woke up to the economic realities of a credit binge.

For a more realistic picture we added the stock market performance of the companies to the analysis of their financials. We concentrated on companies that outperformed the benchmark index, the Sensex.

But, stock markets are not perfect either, and the fact that the Sensex halved in just about nine months in 2008 and bounced back equally fast is testimony to that.

To smoothen out the bias such wild market movements induce, we employed a rather complex measure of stock performance. Starting January 2008 and keeping this entry point fixed, we calculated returns for one year (end of 2008 stock price), two years (end of 2009), three years (end of 2010), four years (end of 2011), and five years (end of September 2012).

We then selected stocks that beat the Sensex returns in each of these periods. We picked up companies with a market capitalisation of Rs 5,000 crore or more as at the end of September 2012. The final list of 12 companies or the "Dazzling Dozen" was selected from this sample.

THRIVING ON CHAOS

A look at the time series of financials of the chosen ones revealed that their market-beating performance was not an accident. Each of these companies showed resilience through tough times. Of the 12 companies, nine more than doubled their revenues and net profits in five years.

Automobile maker Eicher takes the cake with a 10-fold jump in net profit and a seven times increase in profit before depreciation, interest and tax expense. A master stroke of a joint venture with Swedish auto maker Volvo to manufacture commercial vehicles in 2008 was the game changer. Royal Enfield, which became a part of the group in 1994, has also reported traction in demand. Sales volume of the division trebled in the three years to September 2012.

Others such as Cummins India, HDFC Bank and Sun Pharma also thrived during the period. We spoke to the leaders at these companies and the common mantra that emerged is that stick to your core strength and avoid adventure.

With such grounded-in-reality philosophy, these twelve companies not only managed to survive, but also promise to thrive.